Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum
announced Thursday that she won't defend the state's gay marriage ban
in court.
The ban “cannot withstand a federal
constitutional challenge under any standard of review,” Rosenblum
said in a court filing.
Rosenblum is the sixth Democratic
attorney general to refuse to defend such laws, joining Kamala Harris
of California, Mark Herring of Virginia, Lisa Madigan of Illinois,
Kathleen Kane of Pennsylvania and Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada.
Masto recently withdrew a court filing in which she defended Nevada's
ban.
(Related: Nevada
withdraws defense of gay marriage ban that invoked bigamy, incest.)
In January, a federal judge
consolidated two lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of
Oregon's 2004 voter-approved constitutional amendment limiting
marriage to heterosexual couples.
A petition drive to repeal the ban is
being spearheaded by the group Oregon United for Marriage. If
successful, Oregon would make history as the first state to repeal
such a ban.
Oregon currently recognizes the
out-of-state legal marriages of gay couples.